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The Mountain Goats are a band I should hold dear. Cultish and critically acclaimed, they’re praised for their literacy and humour, count Eddie Argos and Jeffrey Lewis among their pals, and have songs on their forthcoming album about slasher movies, lake monsters and Prince Far I. "John Darnielle’s frank and frequently devastating lyrics will help you embrace the fragile frost and loneliness of the city streets", said the programme for the Pineapple Folk Yuletide Gathering at the Union Chapel last month. Sounds good, I thought, give me lots of that.

In fact it felt like arriving late to a party at which everyone else was already drunk. Sandwiched between fantastically raw sets from Alasdair Roberts and Micah P Hinson – inexplicably played to half-empty pews – the Californian duo got standing ovations for a set of smug,
self-absorbed, comically overwritten whiner-rock that sounded like Weezer on a rate of a dollar per simile or They Might Be Giants spending too much time with the cat. What was I not getting? What part of me was missing? For a band who trade on their outsider status, it was a strangely alienating experience.

So I’ve isolated the triggers (including Darnielle’s honking whine of a voice, phony geek-chic haircut and general resemblance to PG Wodehouse’s gawkish newt fancier Gussie Fink-Nottle) and concluded that it all boils down to his habit of emphasising every pretentious couplet with a little jab of his hand – as if to drive home the piercing truth of lines like, "The most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it’s you and that you’re standing in the doorway". Without that unmistakably self-important gesture, it could all be a great joke, a send-up of the sort of glib, bombastic navel-gazing that kept ‘Dawson’s Creek’ in business.

The answer, I reckon, lies in the video for ‘This Year’, in which Darnielle is kidnapped and forced to perform under duress. Perhaps, with the singer’s hands bound behind his back, I would stand some sort of a chance of enjoying The Mountain Goats. Then again, perhaps we could just stop at the kidnap.

and felt exactly the same way. Although Bella Todd's first-rate article was more eloquent than my "Whhuuhhh??? Fucking whiny American shit!!!", as I burst out to my friends at the time. It was like being present at some religious gathering, where the holy man comes out, everyone goes berserk and you think "That's it?"

I know Mountain Goats are one of the most swooned-over bands here so thought I'd see what people thought.

...sole function is to provide a set of moderately accurate listings for the forthcoming five days after it lands on your doormat, and a two day retrospective to let you know what you missed (although they are trying to fix this, allegedly).

they are qualifying that they have good taste by saying they likes 'cultish' and 'critically aclaimed' music and name dropping Jeffrey Lewis, then by criticising the mountain goats to appear to have even more sophisticated taste, I think this review is trying to say more about themselves than the mountain goats

that is acclaimed is a often a way to make your taste seem better, to out indie people. It is also seems like they havent listened to them before the show maybe just read a press release, with a band like the montain goats it takes a while for the meaning to sink in, I think it was an amazing performance, they played wild sage and it was so minimal just a bass note hear and there and i've never felt an atmosphere at a gig quite like it

I think so as they say it could be a good joke without the hand gestures but its not supposed to be a joke, as far as I can tell its pretty serious someone stopping someone from dying so it makes the 'prententious' hand jabs that emphasise the moment more appropriate. Im probably more anoyed about this review than I should be but I really believe it was one of the best shows ive ever been too, why are they reviewing it 3 months later anyways?

someone else started a thread about John D and I remembered how invigorating I'd found the review and how I'd intended to post it on DiS, where I've never seen anything but unequivocal praise for the Mountain Goats.

I hate media contrarians as much as you, but is it so hard to believe this represents her true opinions? As I said, I felt the same way. It was especially galling to see this eruption of hero-worship when the same crowd had only just been clapping politely to a blinding set by Alasdair Roberts.

(still dont nderstand how they werent headlining)and as a fan who really enjoyed them I didnt find the crowds reaction surprising. I just really get the impressioon the reviewer knew very little about the mountain goats but realised they had already missed the boat

it's not beyond all comprehension to imagine that a majority of people who rushed to get tickets were fans of a band who hardly ever play the UK, is it? with all due respect to MPH and Alasdair Roberts, both of whom have had better nights than that one, they were always going to be playing to a crowd waiting for the Mountain Goats.

that review abandons all objectivity and credibility from the off, and isn't worthy of my time.

Clearly the reviewer's one of those utter cuntwipes for whom music with a sense of humour isn't 'proper music' because 'proper music' has to be so utterly heart-rending and serious the whole time. A few funny similes makes him intolerable? FUCK OFF.

When the reviewer says "comically overwritten" she means his stuff is unintentionally funny.

It's not about him having a sense of humour, on the contrary it's about him taking himself way too seriously. With every line it's like he's dropping down some unbearably, unbearably sad and beautiful truth about the human condition.

The only bit I liked about the gig was the most light-hearted, that "hail Satan" tune at the end. That was kind of cool. The rest of it I thought was constipated, suffocating and - I just have to stress this - fucking whiny!

Well, yeah, it's over 15 years since he started releasing music and 6 years since his breakthrough... not that there's anything wrong with discovering an artist late, but you can't just wander along to a gig by such an established artist and *not* expect to be surrounded by die-hard fans, surely?